Traditional furniture may provide surfaces and accessible chambers for placing and storing objects. Furniture requires fewer steps to access stored items than other storage methods. For example, stackable boxes require a process of unstacking and uncovering to access their storage chambers. Traditionally, the elements that compose a furniture assembly are static. That is, a person cannot reconfigure the arrangement of drawers, shelves, and cabinet doors in a built piece of furniture.
Stackable storage containers are used for a variety of storage needs, such as the storage of household articles. They are typically rectangular shaped, having either an open top or lidded top. Storage containers are typically intended to stack base to lid, primarily for use in long-term storage situations. When these containers are stacked, they do not provide ease of entry into the container to retrieve or to insert articles.
Modular furnishings utilize various furniture components that may be placed together to form different storage and workspace areas. Modular furniture is typically made of composite materials that may be fragile and do not withstand impacts and abrasion well. Often furnishings of this type are made of chip board or particle board, and joined inexpensively with glues and screws.
Some modular furnishing systems may be disassembled to flat panels for moving. Moving is generally a cumbersome, disorganized, and inefficient process. One must purchase or locate moving containers. Then objects must be emptied from furniture and placed into the containers. The containers must be moved separately but along with the empty and sometimes disassembled furniture. Upon reaching the final destination, the furniture must be unpacked and reassembled and objects must be unpacked and placed back into the furniture. Finally, the now empty moving containers need to be trashed, recycled, or stored. This adds expense and time to the task of moving, something a significant portion of the U.S. population does on a yearly basis.